Mummy Diaries
by TheLycanKing
Summary: In 1924, Lexi and the Salvatore brothers join on an expedition to find the lost city of Hamunaptra.
1. The Key to Hamunaptra

Deep in the bowels of the the Cairo Museum of Antiquities, rows upon rows of towering bookshelves were filled with literature Standing at the top of a tall ladder between two of these rows and leaning against one of the bookshelves, is a young woman named Evelyn Carnahan.

"Sacred stones… sculpture and aesthetics…" Evelyn spoke to herself as she pulls a book out from a stack under her arm, blows the dust off it, then places it on a shelf with other books whose titles all begin with the letter "O". "Socrates, Seth, volume one, volume two, and volume three, and…" She pauses for a moment when she grabs another book out from under her arm and reads the title. "Tuthmosis... what are you doing here?" She finishes looking at the book and turns around. "T. T, t, t…"

Suddenly, two figures arrive inside the library. Their names were Stefan Salvatore and Alexia Branson, who often calls herself Lexi.

"Hello?" Lexi called across the library.

Evelyn heard her voice and responded. "Uh, ju-just a moment a please!"

Carefully, so as not to lose her balance, she looks over her shoulder to the bookshelf behind her, where all the titles begin with the letter 'TO. She briefly looks down, and saw that it was a long way to the bottom. Evelyn gently sets the other books down on the top shelf, then turns and gingerly starts to reach across the aisle with the Tuthmosis book. Since it was a little too far, she stretches and reaches as she held the top of the ladder with her fingertips.

Suddenly, the ladder pulls away from the shelf, causing Evelyn to yelp and flings the Tuthmosis book and grabs the top of the ladder, which stands straight up. Evelyn holds her breath, swaying precariously until she loses her balance, and the ladder swings around and Evelyn starts stiltwalking down the aisle.

The ladder crosses the aisle, does an about face and heads back the way it came. Evelyn clings to the top, struggling for balance. The ladder teeters out into the main aisle and picks up speed. Evelyn screams as it does a 180, spins into another aisle and finally crashes to a stop at the top of a bookshelf. Evelyn holds her breath, then sighs heavily in relief.

That was when the bookshelf falls away from her and CRASHES into the next bookshelf. Evelyn falls down the ladder and nearly plops to the floor until she lands on someone's arms. She saw that it was Stefan Salvatore who saved her from falling, but it wasn't too late to prevent all the bookshelves from crashing into the next. All the volumes were flinging off the shelves and scattering across the floor. As it finally ends, the last shelf crashes into a wall.

"Oops." Evelyn whispered in shock.

"Are you alright?" Stefan asked.

"No, I'm not." Evelyn replied quietly with her eyes widened in shock. "The Curator is not going to be happy when he sees all this."

"I'm afraid he is." Lexi smiled slightly and moved her eyes towards the Egyptian Curator who had stormed in when he heard the noise.

"WHAT… how…" The Curator exclaimed and looked around in the sight of horror and anger when he saw that his entire library was a complete disaster. He turns his angry face at Evelyn and slowly comes to her. "OH, look at this! Sons of the Pharaohs. Give me frogs, flies, locusts, Anything but this! Anything but you! Compared to you, the other plagues were a joy!"

Evelyn quickly gets up and starts gathering books. "Well, uh…" She paused and didn't know what to say to herself for what she did.

"Look, whatever this was, it was an accident, a terrible accident, and we be delighted to pay for all this." Lexi said calmly to the Curator.

"You would risk in paying for this damage?" The Curator snapped loudly in anger and sighed. "I think not. My girl have you heard about Rameses?"

"Only a little bit." Lexi smiled.

"When Rameses destroyed Syria, that was an accident." The Curator said and turned to Evelyn and yelled again. "And as for you! You are a catastrophe! Look at my library! Why do I put up with you?"

"Well, put up with me, because I can… I can read and write ancient Egyptian." Evelyn grinned as she explained. "And I can decipher hieroglyphics and hieratic… and, well, I'm the only person within a thousand miles who knows how to properly code and catalogue this library, that's why."

"I put up with you because your father and mother were one of the most finest patrons. That's why!" The Curator insulted angrily, but returned to his calm and faithful manner. "I don't want to fire you for this, Evelyn. Ever since your parents died in a tragic accident when you just a child, I was only one to look after you and your brother. But right now, I want you to continue your work while I… contact the people to clean this whole meshiver."

As the Curator storms out, Evelyn, Stefan, and Lexi just stand there, steaming.

"Well… kinda harsh." Stefan replied.

"So what can I do for you two?" Evelyn asked in a pleasant grin.

"We're just here to rent a book around here." Stefan smiled.

"And I'm sure we'll have it once we pay for all the damage you just caused here." Lexi assured her.

Before Evelyn was about to say anything else, she suddenly heard a noise and quickly turns around. The noise came from the Ramesseum.

Filled with treasures and plunder from the Middle Kingdom, the Ramesseum was very dark and quiet in there, the only light came from the flickering torches at either end of the spooky gallery.

Hearing the noise again from the far side of the room, Evelyn grabs a torch and looks around from a statue of Anubis, another of Horus. Evelyn was starting to get scared now when the statues were looking down at her. She quietly walks down the aisle, and moves closer to a sarcophagus.

As she passes the closed sarcophagus, including the artifacts around it, she walks over to another sarcophagus that was wide open. Evelyn freezes, swallows hard, and nervously looks around to see who was responsible of opening it. She slowly leans forward with the torch, and peers inside.

Seconds soon, a hideous rotted Mummy sits up and screeches at her. Evelyn screamed when she dropped the torch and backed away in the sight of horror away. That was when she heard the sight of drunken laughter. Evelyn sighed in relief, but was quite angry that the person who scared her was her brother Jonathan.

"Have you no respect for the dead?" Evelyn shouted in disapproval.

"Of course I do." Jonathan grinned drunkenly. "But sometimes… I'd rather like to join them."

"Well, I wish you would do it before you ruin my career the way you've ruined yours." Evelyn said angrily and gave her brother a slap in the face. "Now get out."

"My dear, sweet baby sister." Jonathan belched. "I'll have you know, that at this precise moment my career is on a high note."

"High note, ha!" Evelyn snapped and sat herself down beside the statue of Horus. "Oh Jonathan, please, I'm really not in the mood for you. I've just made a bit of a mess in the library, and the Bembridge scholars have rejected my application form again. They say I don't have enough experience in the field."

Jonathan kneels down to face her and holds both her hands. "You've always have me, old mum."

The two siblings started to laugh at each other a little.

"Besides I have just the thing to cheer you up." Jonathan said excitedly and scrounges around in his jacket.

"Oh no, Jonathan, not another worthless trinket." Evelyn sighed. "If I have to take one more piece of junk to the Curator to try and sell for you."

Jonathan pulls out a small, ancient BOX; the collapsed key to unlock something very ancient. Evelyn was instantly curious and gently grabs the box out of his hand. That was when Lexi and Stefan came inside Ramesseum.

"Everything, alright?" Lexi asked.

"We heard you scream." Stefan said.

"I'm perfectly fine." Evelyn said in dazed tone when she stared at the ancient key. "Jonathan, where did you get this?"

Jonathan gives her a mischievous smile. "On a dig, uh, down in Thebes."

"You were in Thebes?" Lexi asked with a grin.

"Of course, I've enjoyed digging and hanging a bout with the dead." Jonathan giggled. "Funny isn't it?"

"Would it be funny if I bite you?" Lexi smirked. "Hmm?"

"Oooh, now that's what I'm talking about." Jonathan nodded to her agreement, not even realizing that he was actually talking to a vampire.

Evelyn rolls the box around in her hands, mumbling to herself as she translates the hieratics and hieroglyphs covering it.

Jonathan licked his lips in anticipation. "My whole life I've never found anything, Evy. Tell me I've found something."

Evelyn continues to examine the key as she touches the various little slats on the box, shifting them this way and that way like a puzzle box. Then suddenly, it unfolds itself, almost-mechanically, turning itself into the key. Sitting inside the open key/box was a folded piece of golden Papyrus.

"Is that a map?" Lexi asked and came to look at it.

"Jonathan." Evelyn whispered in amusement.

"Yes?" Jonathan asked.

"I think you found something." Evelyn opened her mouth excitedly.

* * *

The Curator sits at his desk, staring through a jeweler's eyepiece at the key/box while Evelyn, Lexi, Stefan, and Jonathan sat inside his office.

"See the cartouche there?" Evelyn pointed at the map. "It's the official royal seal of Seti the First, I'm sure of it."

"Perhaps." The Curator assumed.

"Two questions; who was Seti the First and… was he rich?" Stefan asked.

"He was the second Pharaoh of the 19th dynasty, said to be the wealthiest Pharaoh of them all." Evelyn counted on the history of Seti.

"Good, I like this fellow." Jonathan grinned and looked quite please of hearing this. "I like him very much."

"I've already dated the map." Evelyn added. "It's almost 3,000 years old."

"Wow, 3,000." Stefan mouthed the words to Lexi.

"And if you look at the hieratic just here, well, it's Hamunaptra." Evelyn finished as she inhaled deeply.

The Curator froze a bit and felt nervous, but recovers.

"Hamunaptra?" Lexi asked, sounding quite confused. "I thought that place was a myth."

"And she is right." The Curator agreed to her words. "Unlike her, we are scholars, not treasure hunters. Hamunaptra is nothing but a myth, and it was told by a lot of ancient storytellers, especially the ancient Arabs to amuse Greek and Roman tourists."

"Yes, yes, I know all the blather about the city being protected by the curse of a mummy, but my research has led me to believe that the city itself may have actually existed." Evelyn explained truthfully.

"Are we talking about the Hamunaptra?" Stefan asked. "The City of the Dead?"

"Yes." Evelyn nodded. "Where the earliest pharaohs were said to have hidden the wealth of Egypt."

"And possibly buried in an ancient treasure chamber." Lexi stated. "Hmm, there are always been a lot of things that our ancestors may have been left behind. Ever since I came many miles from America to Egypt, I always fancied some of these mythological stories, especially the one that you mentioned right now."

"Heh!" The Curator coughed and spat.

"Oh, come on." Jonathan encouraged the Curator. "Everybody knows the story. The entire necropolis was rigged to sink into the sand. On Pharaoh's command, a flick of the switch! And the whole place could disappear beneath the dunes."

"All we know is that the city mysteriously vanished around 2,134 B.C." Evelyn claimed.

"As the Americans would say, it's all fairy tales and hokum." The Curator said, refusing to believe this nonsense when he held the map closer to the candle, but as that happened, the map caught on fire. "Oh my goodness! Look at that!"

The Curator throws it to the floor. Jonathan drops to his knees and quickly puts it out. He Lifts it up, and saw that the left third of the map was now missing.

"You burned it!" Lexi scoffed loudly. "I can't believe you burnt an ancient map that would've been valuable to this museum!"

"Say it again, he burnt the part with the lost city." Jonathan cried.

"I think its for the best, I'm sure." The Curator said.

"What do you mean?" Stefan asked, confused.

"Let me tell you something, Mr. Salvatore." The Curator began. "Many treasure hunters have wasted their lives in the foolish pursuit of Hamunaptra. No one's ever found it. Most… have never returned."

"I can't believe you killed my map." Jonathan said, sounding quite devastated.

"I'm sure it was a fake, anyway." The Curator believed. "I'm surprised at you, Miss Carnarvon, to be so fooled." He reached for the key/box. Evelyn quickly snatches it off the desk and gives him a very angry, suspicious look.


	2. Saving O'Connell

Stefan and Lexi agreed to help Evelyn and Jonathan in their search for the ancient lost city of Hamunaptra. The four traveled to Cairo prison, one of the worst places in Egypt. Dozens of low-life criminals were imprisoned here for committing crimes in the past.

Once the gate was opened, Stefan, Lexi, Evelyn, and Jonathan were given an unfaithful welcome by the Warden, a former criminal who changed his life around and earned his privilege in punishing those for committing terrible crimes and having them hanged.

"Come, come!" The Warden beckoned the four to enter loudly. "Step over the threshold. Welcome to Cairo Prison, my humble home."

"I thought you told us that got that key during a dig down in Thebes." Stefan recounted.

"Yeah, well… I… I was mistaken." Jonathan admitted nervously.

"So everything you said to us was a lie?" Lexi asked.

"More on the bright side, but I can't help myself, I lie to everybody." Jonathan gulped.

"Jonathan, you stole it from a drunk at the local casbah!" Evelyn exclaimed.

"Picked his pocket, actually, so I don't think it's a very good idea." Jonathan said nervously as he tried to pull his sister away and tried to make back for the entrance.

"Oh Jonathan, stop been so ridiculous and help me with this." Evelyn snarled.

"Excuse me, what exactly are these two in prison for?" Lexi asked the warden.

"Well this I did not know." The Warden said. "But when I heard that you were coming, I asked them that myself."

"And what did they say?" Stefan asked.

"They said… they were just looking for a good time." The Warden grinned.

The interior cell door bursts open suddenly, and the two young men were both in chains, and dragged by four guards, who shove them up to the cell bars. The two were Rick O'Connell and Damon Salvatore. From the looks of Rick, he's been in prison for quite a while, and his face was half hidden by long hair with a scraggly beard and several bruises.

"Damon!" Stefan exclaimed in shock.

"Help brother." Damon smirked. "Nice to see you again."

"You two know each other?" The Warden asked.

"Of course we know him, he's Stefan's brother." Lexi said.

"This is the man that you stole it from?" Evelyn asked her brother.

"Yes, exactly." Jonathan nodded shyly. "So why don't we just go sniff out a spot of tiffin…"

Evelyn looks at O'Connell and looked disgusted by his appearance. "But he's just a filthy criminal?"

"Who are you?" Rick asked them.

"And who is the broad?" Damon asked, taking his eyes on Evelyn.

"Well I'm just a local sort of missionary chap, spreading the good word, but this is my sister, Evy." Jonathan introduced his sister to prisoners.

"How do you do?" Evelyn nodded in hello.

"Oh well, I guess she's not a total loss." Damon smirked again.

Evelyn was stunned and furious. "I beg your pardon?"

"Good words, Damon." Stefan smiled sarcastically. "Very good words."

"Thank you." Damon nodded with a smirk and whispered to O'Connell. "Guess I might've upsetted your date."

"I'll be back in a moment." The Warden said and stormed off.

"Ooooh, I tremble with anticipation." Damon smirked sarcastically when a guard clubs him across the head. "OW! Man! That hurts." He groaned as he falls bounces off the metal bars. Since he was a vampire, he showed no pain, and just looks back to give one of the guards a nasty look.

"Ask him about the box." Jonathan whispered.

Evelyn steps closer towards O'Connell and began to explain. "We uh,... we have found..." She paused when she saw that Rick had his head down and tried to get his attention. "Hello. Excuse me. We both found your puzzle box, and we've come to ask you about it."

"What kind of puzzle box is she talking about?" Damon asked, pretending to sound confused.

"I have no idea." Rick replied.

"But how did you claim it?" Lexi asked.

"Like I said, I found that item at Hamunaptra." Rick explained. "It was very valuable, and I was going to sell it. But that was when I got arrested when someone called me a 'thief' and I was locked here where I made a new friend."

"That's me." Damon spoke in a ladies voice.

"Look, we're very sorry that you ended up here in the first place." Stefan apologized, expressing how her felt instead of showing his sympathy to his annoying elder brother.

"And we can do anything to have you set free if you tell us everything about Hamunaptra." Lexi promised.

"Is this a joke?" Rick asked.

"Absolutely not." Evelyn assured him. "Please tell us."

"Fine." Rick sighed when he shut his eyes. "So, you four came to ask me about Hamunaptra?"

"How do you know the box pertains to Hamunaptra?" Evelyn asked in a whisper.

"Because that's where I was when I found the lost city." Rick said. "I was there."

Evelyn seemd a bit dumbstruck, but her brother Jonathan looked quite suspicious.

"How do we know that's not a load of pig swallow?" Jonathan asked suspiciousaly when he stood a bit closer to the cage.

O'Connell looks closer at Jonathan, and his eyes widen as a glint of recognition. "Hey... don't I know you from somewhere?"

"Um, well, you see..." Jonathan chuckled shyly. "I've just got one of those faces."

O'Connell's fist comes flying through the bars, and hits Jonathan square in the jaw.

"Ow." Damon said and looked amused when he watches Jonathan falls down to the floor out cold from receiving the blow.

One of the guards noticed and clubs O'Connel very hard, causing his head to bounce off the bars.

Evelyn looks down at her brother for a moment and walks closer to O'Connell, and asked again. "You were actually at Hamunaptra?"

"You know, he just decked your brother." Damon said.

"Damon, shut up." Stefan ordered.

"Fine." Damon sighed by rolling his eyes.

"Well, I know my brother." Evelyn shrugged.

O'Connell almost smiles and gets a bit of spark from her until he replies. "Yeah, I was there."

"Are you positive?" Evelyn asked again quietly. "You swear?"

"Every single day." Rick responded truthfully and moved his hands in a spooky way. "I was there, alright. Seti's place. The City Of The Dead."

"What did you find when you were there?" Stefan asked him "What did you see?"

"I found sand." Rick replied. "I saw death."

"Could you tell us how to get there?" Evelyn asked as she leans closer to O'Connell. "The exact location."

"You want to know?" Rick asked her.

"Well, yes." Evelyn nodded and leans in even closer.

"Do you really want to know?" Rick asked her again, wanting to know if she really meant it.

Evelyn leans her face right up to the bars, and whispered in nervous and excited response. "Yes."

O'Connell steps forward and kisses her full on the lips. Once he finished kissing her, he shouts out loud. "Then get me the hell out of here!" Evelyn was stunned and watches as the guards club him and yank him away from the bars. Damon joins the brawl, but gets himself bashed in the head again, and is dragged out of the room with Rick.

"Where are they taking them?" Lexi asked the warden.

"The one with the longer hair is to be hanged." The Warden answered and shows-off his green teeth at her. "Apparently, he had a very good time."

* * *

Later, at the Gallows Courtyard, hundreds of filthy prisoners were shouting and staring down onto the gallows as the hangman's noose is draped over O'Connell's head and cinched tight around his neck. While Stefan was doing his secret vampire compulsion to free his brother from captivity, Evelyn and Lexi follow the warden onto a balcony above the gallows. That was when the prisoners all go dead quiet at the sight of the two women, and stare at them like jackals staring at fresh meat.

"No women allowed." The Warden said. "Leave or I'll ask my pets to take you both out."

"Listen, I'll pay you one hundred pounds to save this man's life." Lexi offered.

"Madame, I would pay 100 pounds just to see him hang." The Warden snorted.

"Fine, how about two hundred pounds." Evelyn offered the exact amount. "That's all I have!"

"Nope." The Warden declined and calls to one his guards. "Please proceed!"

O'Connell can hear every word that Lexi and Evelyn were saying, but looks hopeless when the hangman turns to him.

"Any last requests, pig?" The Hangman spat.

"Yeah." Rick said. "Loosen the knot and let me go."

The Hangman looks up to the Warden and asked in arabic. "هل سراحه؟" _(Do I set him free?)_

"Of course we don't let him go, you idiot!" The Warden yelled at him and spoke back in arabic. "مجرد تعليق له" _(Just hang him!)_

The Hangman smacks his hand hardly behind Rick's head and walks over to grab the lever to the trapdoor.

"Okay this is starting to get crazy." Lexi said. "You are putting an innocent man to be hanged for a crime that he didn't commit. I will pay you five hundred pounds."

"And what else?" The Warden asked as he placed his greasy, lecherous hand on Lexi's leg. "I'm a very lonely man."

Lexi felt revolted and hits his hand very hard with her hand. The crowd of prisoners began to laugh, which insulted the Warden. The Warden angrily turns and gestures to the Hangman, who pulls the lever. Once the lever was pulled, the trapdoor drops away.

"NOOO!" Evelyn and Lexi yelled.

O'Connell drops through the hole, and his body snaps at the end of the rope, but in relief, he was still alive.

"HAHA! His neck did not break!" The Warden laughed and turned to Evelyn and Lexi. "Oh, I'm so sorry. Now we must watch him strangle to death."

The prisoners all around began to scream and shout in anger. The guards look around nervous and try to keep the prisoners out of bay while Rick was struggling and gagging at the end of the rope.

Evelyn was horrified, and quickly turns to the warden. "You must free him." She pleaded.

"And why should I do that while ruining a special entertainment?" The Warden asked cruelly.

"Because he knows the way to Hamunaptra." Lexi said.

The warden spins around and faces her. "You lie."

"We would never lie." Evelyn assured him.

At the end of the rope, O'Connell is choking and gagging and turning several shades of red.

"Are you saying this filthy godless son of a pig knows where to find the City Of The Dead?" The Warden asked about him.

"Yes!" Evelyn and Lexi replied together.

"Truly?" The Warden demanded.

"And if you cut him down, we will give you 10%." Lexi offered.

"50%." The Warden counted higher.

"Twenty." Evelyn offered.

"Forty." The Warden counted lower.

"Thirty!" Lexi smirked.

"Twenty-five." The Warden counted again.

"Ah... deal." Lexi grinned.

The Warden was forced to comply and accept the deal from them and yelled out to the hangman. "Cut him down!"

The hangman complies to the warden's orders and quyickly waves his sword to cut the rope. Rick crashes to the ground half-dead, and rolls over. All of the prisoners burst into cheers. O'Connell looks up at Evelyn and Lexi, who both smile broadly and wave down at him.


	3. Medjai

Around nightfall, inside the Curator's office, candle light flicker across the Curator's face.

"She knows." The Curator said. "She knows the city's existence."

Standing in the shadows across from his desk are a group of Medjai, who were wearing blue tinted skin, hideous facial tattoos, -the works. One of the hooded Medjai had a rusty metal hook for a hand.

"She is like all the others, Dr. Terence Bey." The Hook Medjai said. "She must not find it."

"She has seen too much." Terence sighed. "Not only does she have the map, but she has the key."

"Impossible." The Hook Medjai said, sounding quite horrified of hearing this. "She has the lost key? How did she find it?"

"It appears she and her brother found it somewhere in Cairo." Terence stated. "Which is the one reason that it should've been buried in a place where no digger, no tourist, or best of all a thief to even find it. We have to get the key and destroy it or it will be the end of us all."

"Then we will do what our ancestors failed to do." The Hook Medjai grinned.

"Find her and bring her back." Terence instructed the Medjai. "Have the map burned and retrieve the key."

"It will be done." The Hook Medjai complied. "But what of the American expedition? They leave tomorrow as well."

"Forget the bumbling Americans, they will be like all the others." Terence spat. "without the map to guide them, how can they possibly find Hamunaptra?"


	4. Across the Nile River

In the afternoon at Giza Port, Lexi, Damon, Stefan, Evelyn, and Jonathan walk along the boardwalk follow a team of explorers that were swarming the docks. Across the Nile, the pyramirds spike the sky.

"It is three days down the Nile, then two days by camel, sahibs." Damon counted.

"For all the things we're doing, this is going to be something that no vampire has ever done in this part of the world." Lexi smirked at Damon and Stefan. "The first American Vamps in finding an ancient city that was buried in the sands of Egypt."

Stefan slaps Damon on the back with a smile on his face. "Hamunaptra Damon, that's all we gotta keep sayin to ourselves."

"So... do you think this O'Connell guy really going to show up and lead us to the city as he promised?" Damon asked.

"Yes, undoubtedly, knowing my luck." Jonathan said sarcastically. "He may be a cowboy, but I know the breed. His word is his word."

"Personally, I think he's filthy, rude, and a complete scoundrel." Damon grinned about Rick. "But I like him one bit."

"Are you meaning me?" Rick asked as he walked up.

"My goodness." Lexi said, looking quite surprised and impressed in Rick's difference. "Now that is perfect."

"First time I saw you, you were all hairy like a Neanderthal, but now I see you shaved, showered, spit, and polished, with a new haircut and clothes." Damon described his appearance with a smirk.

"He looks more dashing and handsome than ever." Evelyn murmured to herself.

Jonathan grabs O'Connell's arm and shakes his hand. Smashing day for the start of an adventure, eh, O'Connell?" He asked with a slight scoff.

O'Connell quickly checks his pockets. "Yeah, sure, smashing." He said in boring tone and found his wallet. "That reminds me. No hard feelings about the..."

"Oh, no, no. Happens all the time." Jonathan lied and felt the punch that he got from him.

"So you're sure Hamunaptra is out there?" Stefan asked him.

"Along with the scorched bones of my entire garrison that perished, you bet." Rick replied.

"Mister O'Connell, can you look me in the eye, and guarantee me this is not some sort of flimflam?" Evelyn asked suspiciously and gave him a warning. "Because if it is, I'm warning you..."

"You're warning me?" Rick asked, surprised. "Look let put it this way to you all. My whole garrison believed in this so much that without orders, they marched halfway across Libya into Egypt to find that city. And when we got there, all we found was sand and blood. Everybody else was wiped-out by these Tuareg warriors." He walked away and boarded the ship first.

"Here, let me take your bags." Stefan offered and took Evelyn's bags and heads up the gangplank and onto the barge.

"You know, I think your right." Jonathan agreed about Rick to Damon. "He is a filthy, rude, and complete scoundrel."

"Pity, cause its nothing to like here." Damon spoke softly to him.

Evelyn gives them a look, but that was when the Warden of the Cairo prison suddenly brushes past, tipping his raggedy hat.

"A bright good morning to all."

"Oh no, who invited you to come along Mr. Warden?" Damon moaned.

"Its Gad Hassan to you." Gad said his real name and didn't even recognize him. "I'm here to protect my investment, thank you very much." He walks up the plank.

"Funny, he didn't even recognize me." Damon said, looking weird. "Not unless..."

"Relax Damon, I actually compelled him to forget you." Stefan promised with a grin. "So... he won't be a problem."

"Accept to hate the fact that he is coming along." Lexi pointed.

"No hard feelings, Lexi." Stefan sighed. "Well, here we go."

* * *

The bright moon had been shining down on the desert. Throughout the night, Damon, Stefan, and Jonathan had been playing poker with three American cowboys named Burns, Daniels, and Henderson.

"Quit playing with your glasses and cut the deck, Burns." Daniels said to his friend.

"Without my glasses, I can't see the deck to cut it, Dave." Burns laughed.

That was when O'Connell comes out a door carrying a big gun sack.

"That's a very big gun sack." Damon said to him.

"Oh O'Connell, sit down, we could use another good player." Jonathan offered him a seat.

"I only gamble with my life, never my money." Rick declined the offer.

"Never?" Daniels asked as he shuffled some cards, and made an offer. "What if I was to bet you five hundred dollars we get to Hamunaptra before you?"

"Wait, you guys are looking for Hamunaptra too?" Stefan asked.

"Damn straight we are." Henderson chuckled as he looked at his cards.

"And who says we are?" Damon asked them too.

"He does." The three cowboys said together and pointed at Jonathan.

Jonathan was quite nervous and didn't know what to say. "Well..."

"Well, how about it?" Daniels asked again if Rick was to accept his offer. "Is it a bet?"

"Alright, you're on." Rick agreed with smirk on his face.

"What makes you so confident, sir?" An Egyptologist asked.

"Well, what makes you?" Damon asked, giving the Egyptologist a dirty look. "Mr. Egyptologist."

"Its Professor Allen Chamberlain." Allen growled a bit. "And I suggest you watch your tongue, boy. Do you have any idea what we are about to face once we find this Hamunaptra?"

"I don't know, maybe its said to be cursed." Damon pretended to guess.

"Ah, don't say cursed." Daniels spat, refusing to believe that. "Curses are nothing but a myth."

"Well, we got us a man who's actually been here." Henderson said.

Jonathan pretended to smile and looked quite embarrsed. "Oh, what a coincidence, because O'Connell..." His sentence was cut off when Rick hits him with the gun sack. "Ah, whose play is it? Is it my play? I thought I just um..."

"Gentlemen, we got us a wager." Rick growled a bit and squeezed Jonathan's shoulder. "Good evening, Jonathan."

* * *

Evelyn sits on a table, staring out over the passing river. That was when the gunny-sack drops hard onto the table which startled her.

"Sorry, didn't mean to scare you." Rick apologized.

"The only thing that scares me, Mr. O'Connell, are your manners." Evelyn pointed and turned her down to read her book.

"Still angry that I kissed ya, huh?" Rick asked embarrassedly.

"Well, if you call that a kiss." Evelyn answered.

Rick stared at her just as he reaches into the gunny-sack and starts pulling out revolvers, pistols, hunting knives, a massive elephant gun, and a half dozen carefully wrapped sticks of dynamite.

"Um... Did I miss something?" Evelyn asked curiously. "Are we... are we going into battle?"

"The last time I was at that place, I was leading 200 French Legionnaires, and they were all killed." Rick said as he starts dismantling and cleaning the guns. "There's something out there, you know, something underneath that sand."

"Yes, well, I'm hoping to find a certain artifact, a book, actually." Evelyn described. "My brother thinks there's treasure. What do you think is out there?"

Rick looks into Evelyn's eyes and replied. "In a word... evil. The Bedouin and the Tuaregs believe that Hamunaptra is cursed."

"Oh, look, I don't believe in fairy tales and hokum, Mr. O'Connell, but I do believe that one of the most famous books in history is buried out there." Evelyn stated, giving him a know-it-all grin. "The Book of Amun-Ra. It was told that it was made by a group of powerful Egyptian Magicians, and it contains within it all the secret in incantations of the old kingdom. It's what first interested me in Egypt when I was a child. I-It's why I came here. Sort of a... a life's pursuit."

"And the fact that they say it's made out of pure gold, makes no never mind to you, right?" Rick joked. "Right?"

Evelyn is surprised by his knowledge and grinned. "You know your history."

"I know my treasure." Rick added with a slight smile as he finished observing his shotgun.

"Um... by the way... why did you kiss me?" Evelyn asked.

"I was about to be hanged." Rick scoffed. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."

Evelyn's eyes widen and looked quite furious when he said that. She gets up to go and storms off.

O'Connell looks up and watched her leave. "What... wha'd I say asked." He asked, perplexed. He turns around when he heard a noise. There, he saw a figure of shadowed man who was moving. O'Connell reaches reaches down, grabs that someone and lifts him up. It was Beni.

"What a surprise!" Beni shouted. "My very good friend, you're alive! I was so very, very worried."

"Well, if it ain't my little buddy, Beni." Rick nodded and didn't look quite happy to see him. "I think I'll kill you." He sticks his pistol directly under Beni's throat.

"Think of my children." Beni begged.

"You don't have any children." Rick stated.

"Someday I might." Beni responded thoughtfully.

"Shut up!" Rick exclaimed. "So you're the one leading the Americans. I might have known. So what's the scam, Beni? You take them out in the middle of the desert, and then you leave them to rot?"

"Unfortunately no." Beni answered and explained about his job. "These Americans are smart. They pay me only half now, half when I get them back to Cairo. So I must go all the way."

"Them's the breaks, huh?" Rick asked as he pulls his gun away and puts it back in one of his holsters.

"You never believed in Hamunaptra, O'Connell." Beni grinned. "Why are you going back?"

They look as they hear Evelyn yelp. A camel in the Horse Paddock took another bite at her, and Evelyn yelped again and took a step back. O'Connell grins as Evelyn flees down the deck.

"You see that girl?" Rick stared at her. "She saved my neck."

"You always did have more balls than brains." Beni insulted and started to chuckle.

"Yeah." Rick pretended to chuckle. "Goodbye Beni." He grabs him and chucks him over the side of the barge. Beni splashes into the river. O'Connell takes his gunny-sack and starts walking off down the deck.

"O'Connell!" Beni called out to him.

"Sounds familiar." Rick murmured to himself and didn't care in helping Beni.

"Did you really have to do that?" Lexi scoffed in shock.

"Do what?" Rick asked, pretending he didn't even know.

"You just threw a helpless man into the river." Lexi pointed. "Do yo ureally know what's out there?"

"What, alligators?" Rick guessed. "Those things don't like to swim during the night."

"I don't find that funny, Mr. Connell." Lexi shook her head a bit. "Don't forget that it was we that saved your life." She walks away from him.

Before Rick was about to return to his quarters, he suddenly saw three sets of wet footprints that came up over the railing from the river and heading down the deck. O'Connell quickly looks around, immediately on the alert.

* * *

Meanwhile inside Evelyn's cabin, Evelyn was wearing a nightgown and continued to read her book as she stands walking around.

"George Bembridge." Evelyn read. "In 1860... hmm 1865, was... was." She paused and started to snap at herself. "Oh for heaven's sake, girl, it wasn't that good of a kiss, anyway!" She stands in front of her mirror. She suddenly heard something thud and believed it was her book. She picks up her book and turns back to face the mirror. She gasped when the Hook Medjai was behind her.

The Hook Medjai slams his hand over her mouth and lifts up his hook in front of her cheek. "Where is the map?" He asked in an angry growl.

Evelyn's terrified eyes glance down at the map. "It's... It's... there." She responded frightfully.

The Hook Medjai looks over, sees the map lying next to a flickering candle on a nearby table. He turns to face Evelyn and asked again. "And the key? Where is the key?"

"T-The key? The key? What key?" Evelyn asked, looking quite confused.

"Evelyn!" Rick shouted as he kicks the door open and bursts in with two guns.

The Hook spins Evelyn around and holds her out in front of him. Evelyn's eyes widen. And that's when the candle on the table flickers. O'Connell spins around just as a window bursts open and Medjai leans in. The Medjai Gunner fires his gun and woodchips blasts off the wall next to O'Connell's head. Rick returns fire and kills the Medjai, but his shots caused a lantern to fall off and bursts into flames.

Evelyn, however, managed to grab a candle on the table and jams it back over her shoulder, right into Hook's eye.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!" The Hook screeched in terrible pain and releases Evelyn from captivity.

O'Connell grabs her and yanks her out of the flaming room after he shot another Medjai gunner that was aiming at them. O'Connell pulls Evelyn down the hall.

"The map!" Evelyn gasped. "The map! I forgot the map!"

"Relax." Rick pressured her as he pulled her away from the flaming room. "I'm the map." He taps his forehead in response. "It's all up here."

"Oh that's comforting." Evelyn sighed sarcastically.

* * *

Hot melted wax covers Hook's face as he holds his sore eye and struggles to the door. Then he notices the key/box on the floor.

"The key." The Hook breathed and bends over to pick it up.

Before he was about to grab it, Jonathan came inside and didn't notice the Hook.

"Evy?" Jonathan called.

Just as he called for his sister, he accidentally hits him in the butt and knocks him into the sofa that was already on fire. He frightfully jumps when he saw it, but turned his attention on the key that was lying on the floor. He quickly leans down to grab it, but the hook used his metallic hook to prevent him from grabbing it. He quickly picks it up as he was still on fire. Jonathan quickly backpedals out the door and runs desparately for his life.

* * *

O'Connell and Evelyn race out onto the deck near the horse paddock. Lexi runs to meet them and watches a lot of people were screaming, shouting, and panicked all around the ship that was attacked by the Medjai.

"Hold on to this." Rick told Lexi and passes his gun bag to her.

"Your welcome." Lexi sighed.

Rick quickly reloads one of his pistols until one of the Medjai from on top takes aim at him. The Medjai continues to shoot through the wall, and when each hole was getting close to O'Connell, Lexi was fast enough to pull him out of the way in time. Lexi quickly takes two pistols from the gun bag, and she and Rick for their chance to fire back. As a few more Medjai were coming around the deck, Rick and Lexi emerge from their hiding spots and open fire at them. The Medjai on top tried to shoot Rick, but Lexi managed to take aim and shot him in time, but once the flames were sweeping up the walls and race across the roof, half the barge was now on fire.

"Can you swim?" Rick asked loudly to Evelyn.

"Well of course I can swim, if the occasion calls for it!" Evelyn snapped.

"Trust me." Rick promised as he picks her up and throws her over the side. "The occasion calls for it." He turns to Lexi. "Shall I?"

"Ah, no." Lexi rejected. "I'll do it my..."

Rick picks her up as well and throws her over the side. Lexi splashes into the water and swims after Evelyn.

"Evelyn!" Lexi called to her as she swam. "Keep swimming!"

"He threw me!" Evelyn cried.

"I know he did, cause he did it to me too!" Lexi exclaimed.

Rick quickly throws the gunny-sack over his shoulder and prepares to dive out of the barge, but that was when a Medjai emerged from his jumping spot, and tackled and punched him. O'Connell finally managed to get the upper hand, and punch the warrior back, sending the man into a burning cabin. As he was about to jump off the ship, he was waylaid by the Warden Gad Hassan.

"O'Connell! O'Connell! What are we going to do? What are we going to do?" Gad asked frantically.

"Wait here! I'll go get help!" Rick instructed and dived into the water.

"Right!" Gad complied.

Looking about, the Warden soon found out that he was played by a fool and O'Connell's joke. He immediately shouted in arabic jumps in after him.

* * *

As the fight continued, Daniels, Henderson, Burns, Stefan, and Damon were all shooting at group of armed Medjai that were trying to shoot them. Jonathan runs out onto the bow, sees the three Americans, guns in every hand, fanning their pistols, shooting everything in sight.

"Americans." Jonathan shook his head in displeasure.

Suddenly, the Hook emerged from out of the door with the key in his hand. He raises his fiery hook and was about to strike at him. Henderson turned his face around and managed to save Jonathan's life by shooting the Hook three times. The Hook fell of the railing and landed in the water dead.

"I say, bloody good show chaps!" Jonathan exclaimed proudly and points his thumb at himself. "And did I panic?" He lifts up his other hand and has the key with him. "I think not."

The fire began to burst through, and both the Salvatore grab hold of Jonathan on each side, and the three jump into the water to join with the others. Allen Chamberlain, Henderson, Daniels, and Burns quickly jump out of the barge several more passengers and swim directly to the shore with their horses.

"Get them out of the water!" Henderson shouted as he was busy pulling two horses out of the river. "Get them out of the water! Come on, doggies! Give them a smack would you?"

"This is a messed-up country." Daniels spat and walked away.

Rick, Damon, Evelyn, Lexi, Jonathan, Stefan, and the Warden wade out of the water. Evelyn's nightgown clings tight to her body as she wrings it out.

"We've lost everything!" Evelyn cried out since she was shivering. "All of our tools, all the equipment! All my clothes!"

"Relax, we'll try and get some new ones." Lexi calmed her.

"Well... that was a big wild night." Stefan said.

"O'CONNELL!" Beni called out to Rick from the other side of the river. "HEY! O'CONNELL! IT LOOKS TO ME LIKE I'VE GOT ALL THE HORSES!"

"HEY, BENI!" Rick called back. "LOOKS TO ME LIKE YOUR ON THE WRONG SIDE OF THE RIVER!"

"Yeah." Beni breathed and looks up at the stars. Realizing that he was, he then angrily kicks the water in anger.


	5. Riding across the Sahara Desert

With the boat burnt in the Nile, Evelyn, Lexi, Rick, Damon, Stefan, Jonathan, and Gad arrived at the Bedouin trading post and spent half the night to rest since the Medjai attack. In the morning, people and nomadic travelers were gathering around, and the seven travelers recently had to split up and search for supplies and camels for their journey to Hamunaptra. Gad had recently been trying to buy something until a group of women attacked him. Gad shouted deeply in Arabic at the women who were attacking him while Jonathan had been having trouble trying to buy seven camels from one of the traders.

"I only want seven!" Jonathan shouted at the trader since he didn't understand what the trader was saying in Arabic. "Seven! I only want seven, not a whole bloody herd!"

"Will you just the pay the man." Stefan said boringly since he couldn't stand the argument between Jonathan and the trader.

"Oh for heaven's sake!" Jonathan complained angrily. "I can't believe the price of these fleabags." He takes out his wallet and forks over some cash to give to the trader.

The trader looks at the money and looked very happy and please to see how much money he received for today. He gives Jonathan and Stefan a nod and passes seven camels to them.

"Yes, happy." Jonathan responded sarcastically. "Very good."

"You could've got them for free." Stefan pointed as he held the reins of the seven camels. "All we had to do was give them to them to your sister."

"Yes." Jonathan said. "Awfully tempting, wasn't it?"

Rick and Damon come back with fresh supplies.

"Five, six, seven." Damon counted the camels. "Perfect, now let's get out of here."

That was when Evelyn and Lexi steps out of a trading tent. They now changed themselves with gorgeous, tightly fitted, Bedouin dresses.

"Awfully." Rick said to himself when he saw lovely they were.

"Then again." Damon smirked and gave Rick a wink.

* * *

For almost a hour, Evelyn, Lexi, Rick, Damon, Stefan, Jonathan, and Gad were mounted on their camels and had been crossing the endless, sunbaked Sahara Desert.

"You know, I never did like camels." Damon sighed in disgrace.

"Yeah, filthy buggers." Jonathan said about the camels in disgust. "They smell, they bite, they spit. Disgusting."

Gad bites down a piece of bread with his teeth. Flies buzz around his head. He sucks at his gums, then spits out some gristle. Stefan watches him.

"Yeah, disgusting." Stefan responded sarcatisally by rolling his eyes.

Lexi wass having the time of her life on top of her camel and smiled. "Well I think they're cute."

"And adorable." Evelyn added while she was petting and rubbing her camel softly.

That was when Gad began to sing something in Arabic, much to the fact that it annoyed Damon and Stefan. For almost a few days, the seven travelers were crossing the desert until they were getting closer to their destination. At around nightfall, the moon shined down the seven lone camel riders that had been trekking across the vast desert.

Jonathan was sound asleep, his head bobbing comically to the rhythm of his camel. On the camel next to him, Gad had been snoring very loud which woke him up. Jonathan wipped him which woke him up.

"Ah, no more goat soup." Gad gasped when he woke up from his dream.

Up in front of them, Evelyn slowly starts to slide off her saddle. Lexi reaches over and stops her, then gently pushes her back up onto her saddle, never waking her. For a long moment, Rick had been staring directly at Evelyn, but that was when he looks up at a distant ridge and noticed that he and his companions were not alone.

"We got company, brother." Damon said quietly, noticing a small cavalry of Medjai riders that were on top of the ridge.

"Just keep riding." Stefan said to him.


	6. The City of the Dead

The dawning sun hasn't yet crested the distant horizon as Rick, Evelyn, Lexi, Damon, Stefan, Jonathan and Warden Gad ride alongside the giant sand dune.

"And you snore." Damon chuckled.

"I do not snore." Gad complained.

"All night you snored." Damon teased him.

"I have never snored!" Gad exclaimed.

Up in front of them, O'Connell looks at Lexi.

"We're almost there." Rick said.

"Are you sure?" Lexi asked.

O'Connell looks down at the ground and answers. "Pretty sure."

The others look down and see dozens of skeletons sticking out of the ground. Bleached and eaten away. Some of the skeletons look like they're trying to crawl up out of the desert floor.

"What in bloody hell is this?" Jonathan asked.

"Probably other seekers." Stefan assumed.

"Those are Tuareg corpses." Rick said.

The American Expedition rides out from behind the far end of the dune. The three Americans Burns, Daniels, Henderson were accompanied by dozens of native diggers led by Allen Chamberlain. Beni was among those to accompany them, but he was the only one in the expedition to ride a camel.

"Good morning, my friend!" Beni called.

O'Connell just nods sarcastically. Once the two parties come to a stop a hundred feet apart, O'Connell turns and stares out across the endless horizon.

"What the hell we doing?" Daniels demanded impatiently.

"Patience, my good barat'im." Beni calmed with reassurance. "Patience."

Henderson looks over at O'Connell and said. "Remember our bet, O'Connell. First one to the city, 500 cash bucks."

"A hundred of them bucks is yours if you help us win that bet." Daniels added.

"Oh, my pleasure." Beni replied, sounding thrilled as to wanting to earn that reward first. He turns to Rick and teases him. "Hey O'Connell. Nice camel."

"Ah, begging your pardon, but shouldn't we be going?" Jonathan asked quietly to Rick.

"After all, you rode us night and day to win that bet." Stefan said quietly.

Rick ignores his insult and pets his camel. Then, he continues to stare at the horizon. Evelyn and Jonathan share a look. And then, the sun starts to rise in the distance, breaking the flat horizon.

"Get ready." Rick said.

"For what?" Evelyn asked.

"We're about to be shown the way.

Far off to the right, a huge shape begins to rise with the sun. Everyone watches in expressionless.

"Unbelievable." Lexi murmured.

"Will you look at that?" Henderson gazed in awe.

"Can you believe that?" Daniels stared at the horizon in awe.

"Hamunaptra." Burns whispered in awe.

"Here we go again." Rick whispered in disappointment.

Once Hamunaptra was in sight, everyone marshals up their horses and take off and race towards the ancient city. As the rest of the cavalry were riding, Rick and Beni were far up ahead. They were riding their camels very fast, and try to reach the city. Beni turns around and saw that Rick was catching up to him. He whips his camel very hard to make it go faster, but Rick had already made his way next to him. Rather then whipping him, Beni uses it to whip Rick and tries to knock him out.

Rick managed to grab the whip and angrily responds. "So long, Beni!" He jerks him off the camel. Beni slams to the sand and tumbles just as Lexi rides pass him.

"Now that serves you right." Lexi grinned as she rides pass him.

Evelyn and O'Connell race across the desert. Evelyn has never felt so alive as she She laughs while she catches up and turns to look at Rick. Rick grins and looked quite impressed of her stunt. Beni stumbles to his feet, spitting the sand out as Damon, Stefan, Jonathan, and all the other riders stampede past him.

"Go, Evy! Go!" Jonathan cheered.

Evelyn managed to reach the city first, and Rick rides in after her to help slow her camel down. That was when the three Americans ride up and look in wonder at the ruins inside the ancient city.

Lexi gives them a big grin. "Well... looks like you boys owe him five hundred dollars."

* * *

Under the guidance of the Egyptologist Allen Chamberlain, more than a hundred Egyptian diggers were busy hauling rock and dirt out of the Temple doorway. The three Americans were playing poker while Beni looks around and had been swatting several flies. Lexi, Damon, and Stefan noticed dozens of stray camels were roaming the decrepit city. Dusty backpacks and old saddlebags still slung over their humps.

"Where'd all these camels come from?" Damon asked.

"Don't know, but I bet they belong to their dead masters." Stefan stated. "They might probably wait for years until their masters return before leaving."

The three vampires join with O'Connell, Evelyn, Jonathan, and Gad, who were working next to a narrow crevice, which weaves it's way through the ruins. O'Connell ties a rope around a pillar and throws the rest of the coils into the crevice, about to rappel down. Jonathan bends over to have a look, but that was when his butt hits something. He turns around and yelps at the sight of an Anubis.

"That thing gives me the creeps." Jonathan said, not wanting to bother staring at the statue.

"That thing saved my life." Rick told him.

Evelyn is positioning ancient mirrors along the crevice and sounded quite excited by all this. "That 'thing' gets me excited."

"The things that get you excited." Damon smiled sarcastically.

* * *

Henderson had been watching them from a short distance of the ancient city. He turns over to Allen, who had an umbrella to cover the light of the sun.

"Do they know something we don't?" Henderson asked the Egyptologist while chewing something.

"They are led by a woman." Allen replied. "What does a woman know?"

Burns looks around and saw that something was missing. "Has anyone seen my tool kit?"

* * *

O'Connell, Evelyn, Jonathan, Gad, Lexi, Damon, and Stefan continue their work to prepare to move underground.

"Jonathan, the statue that was behind you was the statue of Anubis." Evelyn said. "Its legs go deep underground."

"A very fascinated old statue." Lexi stared at it in awe. "Could be worth billions to sell it?"

"According to Bembridge Scholars, that's where we'll find the secret compartment containing the golden Book of Amun-Ra." Evelyn claimed and turned around to look at the sun. She turns back to face her brother. "Uh Jonathan, you are meant to catch the sun with that."

"What are those mirrors for?" Damon asked her.

"Ancient mirrors." Evelyn said. "It's an ancient Egyptian trick. You'll see."

Rick walks over to Evelyn and gives her a tool kit. "Ah here, this is for you."

"Where you'd get it?" Evelyn asked him.

"It's a tool kit." Rick answered shyly since he really liked her. "I borrowed it from our American brethren. I thought you might need it for when you're..." He doesn't know what else to say and turns around when Lexi nods at him with a grin since she knew what he was doing. "Ah, what are you looking at?"

Lexi raises her hands and smiles. "No prob." She turns to Evelyn and gives her a wink.

Evelyn, however, unwraps the tool kit and stares at the old tools she saw. She smiles gratefully since she never saw these type of tools in her life.

"Hey, look for bugs. I hate bugs." Gad said while O'Connell shrugs and then rappels down into the crevice.

* * *

Down below, Rick and Stefan were holding their torches as Lexi, Evelyn, Damon, Jonathan, and Gad climb down next to them.

Evelyn peers into the spooky darkness and asked the group. "Do you realize, we are standing inside a room that no one has entered in over 3,000 years."

"Who cares? I don't see no treasure." Gad said, looking around to see if there was any treasure.

"Well, you're welcome to my share of the spider webs." Damon said, annoyed by the Warden's lust for gold.

Jonathan sniffed through the foul air and caught something that he didn't like. "Phew, what is that terrible smell?"

"Beats me." Stefan sighed.

Evelyn brushes cobwebs away from a metal disk on the wall. "And then there was light." She re-positions it on it's pedestal, aiming it at a ray of light shining in from the outer mirrors. The ray of the light hits the disk and quickly shoots to another until the whole chamber is lit up Light shoots off down the passageways.

"Hey, that is a neat trick." Damon said, sounding quite impressed.

"So which part of the city are we in now?" Lexi asked.

Evelyn looks around the chamber in awe. "Oh my god, its the Sah-Netjer."

"Wait, a what?" Rick asked, not catching it.

"It's a preparation room." Evelyn said.

"A preparation for what exactly?" Stefan asked.

"For entering the afterlife." Evelyn smiled in excitement.

"Sounds quite interesting and amazing." Lexi smiled behind her.

O'Connell quickly draws his gun and says. "And worse."

Jonathan gently nudges him. "Mummies, my good son, this is where they made the mummies."

Damon, Rick, Stefan, Jonathan, Evelyn, Lexi, and Gad move slowly through a cobweb infested labyrinth. Then they hear something and freeze. It sounds like somebody is clawing inside the walls.

"What was that?" Jonathan asked in fright.

"Sounds like bugs." Rick replied.

Lexi turns to Gad and whispered loudly. "He said 'bugs'."

"What do you mean bugs? I hate bugs!" Gad spat, turning around to see if he caught any sight of a bug.

The group slowly creep out of the labyrinth and up to the foot of an enormous half-buried statue. The lower half was the Anubis.

"Well what'a you know." Lexi smirked in excitement. "We found it."

"The legs of Anubis." Evelyn smiled in wonder.

"So I guess this must be where the secret compartment should be hidden somewhere inside this enormous statue." Damon pondered.

Suddenly, the group heard a sound that was coming closer to where they were. The sound was coming from the other side of the statue. Rick pulls Evelyn behind him and raises his gun. Damon, Jonathan, Stefan, and Gad cock their guns too and raise them slowly. Without hesitating, Rick, Damon, Jonathan, Stefan, and Gad leap out to aim their directly at the Allen, Henderson, Daniels, Burns, Beni, and ten diggers, who raise their weapons in gasp and fright.

"You scared the bejeezus out of us, O'Connell." Henderson sighed in relief.

"Likewise." Rick grinned.

Burns began to notice that Evelyn was holding a tool kit. "Hey, wait a minute, that's my tool kit."

"No, I don't think so." Rick growled as he raised his gun at him.

The others on each side did the same thing, raising their guns in defense.

"Better step back." Stefan warned, aiming his pistol at him.

"Okay, perhaps I was mistaken for another tool kit." Burns pretended to apologize as he took a step back with his weapon in his hand.

Everyone lowers their weapons again.

"Well, have a nice day, gentlemen." Evelyn said. "We have a lot of work to be getting along with."

"Push off!" Allen responded rudely. "This is our dig site."

"Excuse me, but we already got here first before you slugs did." Damon said, giving him an angry look.

Everyone raises their weapons again, aiming directly at each other while Lexi and Evelyn stay behind defenseless. Neither did everyone know that Damon, Stefan, and Lexi were in fact vampires, and would get ready to engage if they were threatened.

"This here is our statue, friend." Daniels said, raising his gun at O'Connell.

"Well we don't see your name written on it, pal." Damon said.

"Yes, well, there's only seven of you and nineteen of me." Beni grinned in delight. "Your odds are not so good."

"Hmm, maybe, but we had worse." Stefan said.

Jonathan clenches his tiny derringer and said. "Yeah, me too."

Stefan, Damon, and Rick give him a sideways glance. Evelyn, however, noticed a hole and kicked a few rocks down. Before a shooting was about to occur, Lexi steps between both sides.

"For goodness sake." Lexi spoke out between the two sides. "You're all acting like children fighting over a toy. So, if we're going to play together, we must learn to share."

"She's right." Evelyn said, agreeing to her point. "There are other places we can dig."

* * *

Elsewhere in an unknown chamber below the statue of Anubis, Damon, Stefan, Jonathan, and Rick were busy using sledge-hammers against the ceiling while Lexi and Evelyn were gently chipping away with tiny chisels.

"According to these hieroglyphics, we're underneath the statue." Evelyn said.

"Good, so that means, we're about to come up right between his legs." Damon said, rolling his eyes a bit. "Figures."

"When those damn yanks go to sleep, we'll dig our way up and steal that book right out from under them." Jonathan suggested the plan.

"That is the plan." Lexi said.

"Are you truly positive that we can find this ancient compartment thing that no one has found for thousands of years from now?" Stefan asked.

"Oh, yes, if those beastly Americans haven't beaten us to it." Evelyn said and looked briefly at Rick and Damon. "No offense."

"None taken." Rick and Damon responded together and kept on working.

"Let's hope their Egyptologist Allen Chamberlain hasn't already found it by now." Lexi said.

Jonathan turns around and saw that Gad was gone. He looks around and asked. "I say, where'd our smelly little friend get to?"

"Must've decided to wonder around and see if he can find a stash filled with treasure." Damon spoke sarcastically with a smirk on his face. "Good luck for him."

"I'm sure he hasn't gotten that far." Lexi stated.

* * *

Gad crawls into a dark chamber and lights a torch for him to see on where he was going. A mural wall comes alive.

"What have we here?" Gad whispered to himself.

Embedded into it are dozens of black amethyst scarabs; glittering images of the sacred beetles. Awestruck, the Warden pulls out a pocket knife and starts prying away at one of the precious bugs.

"Blue gold." Gad whispered in awe. "This will fetch a mighty fine price."

* * *

Beni, Henderson, Daniels, and Burns hover around Allen, who's found the secret compartment inside the statue of Anubis. The Egyptologist brushes sand away from the seam.

"Let's get us some treasure!" Henderson exclaimed in excitement as he steps forward and grabs the seam.

"Careful!" Allen shouted as he quickly stops him and lowers his voice. "Seti was no fool." He turns to the diggers. "I think perhaps we should let the diggers open it. Hmm?"

The Diggers hesitate, filled with fear since they couldn't imagine what was inside.

"Oh, I think we should listen to the good doctor, Henderson." Burns agreed to the idea.

"Yeah sure, let them open it." Henderson responded in sarcasm.

Immediately, Allen speaks in Arabic to three diggers in the front of the group. Beni and the Americans exchange looks, and then they back away, and watch as the three diggers The three Diggers pull hard, and see that the ancient seams start to give as Allen yells in Arabic. The Diggers pull harder as they can once the compartment starts to loosen. The Diggers give one final pull and an intense burst of liquid sprays out of the seam and into the three diggers, melting their skin clean off as they scream in terrible pain.

* * *

Back at the chamber, Rick, Evelyn, Damon, Lexi, and Stefan were sitting down, and taking break from all the hard work while Jonathan was using his long sledge-hammer to hit rocks.

"Let me get this straight." Rick said. "They rip out your guts and stuff them in jars."

"And what else is worse, they use this sharp, red hot poker up your nose, cut your brain into small pieces, then ripped it all out through your nostrils." Damon added as well.

"Ooh, that's gotta hurt." Stefan said, pretending to sound thrilled by this.

"And they can also take out your heart as well." Evelyn brought that one up too. "Oh, and you know how they take out your..."

"Evy, I don't think we need to know this." Jonathan said.

"That's what Egyptians did long ago." Evelyn said. "It's called mummification, and you'll be dead when they do this."

"For the record, if I don't make it out of here, don't put me down for mummification." Rick said, sounding a bit nervous.

"Likewise." Jonathan said.

Suddenly, a massive stone casement drops out of the ceiling and crashes to the floor. Rick, Evelyn, Damon, Lexi, Jonathan, and Stefan slowly get up and step over to the massive stone casement.

"Well, well, what do we have here?" Damon smirked.

"Oh my god. Its a..." Evelyn breathed. "Its a sarcophagus."

"Where did it come from exactly?" Stefan asked, confused.

"I think from the base of Anubis." Lexi answered, looking up and seeing the base.

"Why would they bury somebody in the ceiling?" Damon asked, confused.

"I don't know." Evelyn said quietly and stared at the sarcophagus. "But this man must have been someone of great importance." She paused for a moment and realized something else, and turned to look at Rick and Lexi. "Or he did something very naughty."

* * *

Meanwhile, Gad had been collecting more black amethyst scarabs to add in his bag and sell them for a massive price. drops an amethyst-scarab into his pouch, then greedily starts prying away at another. It rips off, he drops it into his pouch, - only he misses, and this scarab quietly falls to the sandy floor without the Warden noticing.

"One more." Gad laughed quietly.

Suddenly, the scarab on the floor started to crack quietly. Something inside started to wiggle as if the amethyst were some sort of strange cocoon. Then it splits open and a real live hideous scarab beetle scurries out. It races over to the warden's shoe, quickly burrows into the leather and vanishes inside.

This caused Gad's eyes to fly open when he felt something and started to scream.

"Ah! AHHHH!" Gad screamed in pain. "Help me! Help me! Help me!"

Dropping his knife on the sandy floor, he grunted and frantically starts clawing away at his pant leg, higher and higher until he rips open his shirt revealing a large, hideous lump burrowing under his skin. The scarab inside him was burrowing its way up his fat belly and across his hairy chest. Gad was screaming as he clawed and scratched at it, trying to stop it from going up. The scarab kept on moving up right up his neck and vanished into his head.

* * *

Back at the chamber, Rick, Evelyn, Damon, Lexi, Jonathan, and Stefan were busy clear the dirt off the top of the sarcophagus, revealing a single, ominous hieroglyph. Evelyn stares at it while Jonathan impatiently strums his fingers across the lid.

"Well, who is it?" Jonathan asked, wanting to know to know who it was.

Evelyn stares at the hieroglyph, confused and concerned. "It says, 'He that shall not be named'."

"That's a very unusual name for an Egyptian don't you think?" Damon said and blows the dust off to reveal a huge lock. "This looks like some sort of lock."

"Say, didn't you tell us that these thing's are made of granite with a steel interior?" Stefan asked Evelyn.

"Quarried granite with a cobalt lining." Evelyn grinned.

"Well, whoever is in here sure wasn't getting out." Lexi said.

"Yeah, no kidding." Damon said sarcastically.

"Well, by the looks of it, it'll take us a month to crack into this thing without a key." Rick added.

"A key?" Evelyn replied while she was reading the ancient Egyptian words. Then, her eyes widen in suprise. "A key! A key! That's what he was talking about!"

"Who was talking about what?" Stefan asked, giving himself a confused look on his face on what she was saying.

"The man on the barge, the one with the hook, he was looking for a key." Evelyn answered swiftly as she pulls out the key/box that Jonathan had.

"Hey, that's mine." Jonathan complained softly.

Evelyn ignores him quickly unfolds the box. Much to everyone's surprise, the key was now shaped exactly like the keyhole.

"I don't believe it." Lexi gazed in awe.

Before Evelyn was about to use the key to unlock the sarcophagus, they suddenly hear Gad's screams echoing through the labyrinth. All six of them turn and take-off running to find him.

Gad was screaming and dancing insanely around the labyrinth, totally freaked from the extreme pain in his head. Rick, Evelyn, Damon, Lexi, Jonathan, and Stefan run up just as Gad continued to scream in pain.

"What's wrong with him?" Stefan asked, concerned.

"Grab him!" Damon exclaimed.

Damon and Rick quickly grab at Gad's hands but he's far too crazed, and shoves them aside. Then, he runs full bore down the length of the labyrinth and accidentally slams his head straight into a rock wall. Gad drops to the ground dead, and Evelyn, Lexi, Jonathan, Stefan, Rick, and Damon stare in the sight of shock and confusion of what just happened.


	7. Leave or Die

Meanwhile, Evelyn, Stefan, Jonathan, and Lexi were nuzzled up to a campfire.

"What do you suppose killed him?" Evelyn asked, wanting to know what truly happened to their companion Gad.

"Did you ever see him eat?" Jonathan asked, assuming if Gad was choking from something that he eat.

That was when Damon and Rick return when they came up over some rocks, and joined the four.

"Well, it seems that our American friends had a little misfortune of their own today." Damon said.

"What do you mean?" Lexi asked.

"Three of their diggers were uh... melted." Rick answered her.

"What?!" Evelyn gasped in shock.

"How did that happen?" Stefan asked.

"Salt acid." Damon answered.

"Pressurized salt acid." Rick corrected him. "Some sort of ancient booby-trap."

"Maybe this place really is cursed." Jonathan assumed about the city of the dead.

His words caused a gust of wind to blow through the camp. The campfire flickers around the group, and they all stare at each other for a moment.

"Oh, for goodness' sake!" Evelyn exclaimed, refusing to believe such words from his brother.

"You don't believe in curses, huh?" Damon asked.

"No, I don't." Evelyn said. "I believe if I can see it, and I can touch it, then it's real. That's what I believe."

"I believe in being prepared." Rick said as he cocks his shot gun.

"Let's see what our friend the warden believed in." Damon said while he opens the Gad's bag. He reaches in, starts scrounging around. And then, he yelps in pain and rips his hand back out of the pouch.

"What happened to you, brother?" Stefan asked.

Damon sighs and doesn't say a word. He reaches back into the pouch and pulls out a liquor bottle. He grins in amusement. "Seems the top has been chipped off. Maybe that's what caused him to go nuts."

"Is that what I think it is?" Jonathan asked as he took a closer look of the bottle. "Glenlivet! 12 years old!"

Damon smiles at the bottle, then turns the pouch inside out and shakes it, nothing but sand is inside it. "Well, he may have been a stinky fellow... but he had a good taste."

Jonathan snatches the bottle and takes a swig while Lexi and Evelyn laugh a bit. That was when Damon and Stefan heard something. It was a barage of gunfire that was coming from the camp below.

O'Connell jumps up and throws the shot gun to Evelyn. "Stay here!"

Damon, Rick, and Stefan quickly take off running through the ruins.

"No, wait, wait!" Evelyn called after them. "Wait for me!"

"Evy, get back here!" Lexi shouted.

Evelyn runs after them just as Jonathan grabs a gun and holds the Glenlivet bottle tight once he was dashing after her.

"Evy!" Jonathan called to her. "Excuse me! But didn't the man just say stay here?"

The whole camp came under siege by a force of Medjai riders who were galloping forward and entered the ruined city uninvited. Firing their rifles, several diggers were killed as they run. Allen Chamberlain was freaking out when he saw them and ran deeply for his life with his umbrella.

"Mr. Henderson! Wake up!" Allen yelled. "WAKE UP!"

Henderson, Daniels, and Burns quickly got out of their tents in a hurry, and take out their guns to fire at the oncoming enemy. Damon, O'Connell, and Stefan race through the ruins and joined the fight. Rather than using their vampire strength, Damon and Stefan had no choice but to blend in and use their pistols to fire at the Medjai. While Rick was firing, Damon slams right into Beni, who is obviously trying to high-tail-it out of there.

"Goin' somewhere?" Damon asked.

"Just looking for, O'Connell." Beni whimpered like a puppy. "I wanted to be with my friend."

"Well c'mon, friend." Damon sighed in ignorance as he drags him back towards the camp.

"Why do you like to fight so much?" Beni cried as he struggles.

"Cause I look good doing it." Rick replied.

Evelyn emerged from behind some rocks and looked around hastily with her shot gun armed. That was when she heard someone coming up from behind her and spins around. A vicious tattooed Mumia Rider races at her. Evelyn was terrified after she quickly backpedals over the rocks once the Medjai Rider raises his sword and was about to strike her.

"AAAAHHHH!" Evelyn screamed, tripping over a rock, but causing her shot gun to fire and blow the rider off his mount. At the same time, the kick blows Evelyn off her feet and into the dune sand.

Ardeth Bay gallops through the camp with his sword in hand. O'Connell runs up on top of some rocks, leaps out and tackles him off his horse. The two men slam to the ground. O'Connell spins up onto one knee and fires, point blank, blowing the sword out of Ardeth Bay's hand. Seeing his once chance to finish him. O'Connell tries to shoot him directly in the face, but that was when a horse rides up between them. A sword swoops down, almost taking O'Connell's head off, but missed him by an inch.

Damon fired his pistol at a Medjai who struck a digger. Then, he leaps up on a rider's horse and blows the Rider off his mount. Jonathan and a group of armed diggers were holding their own near the temple door. That was when four riders were charging right at them. During the chaos, Jonathan took a swig off the Glenlivet and shot a rider near him.

"Let 'em have it, boys!" Jonathan exclaimed.

Immediately, Jonathan and the Diggers open fire at the four incoming riders. He didn't notice that Beni came from behind and snatched the Glenlivet from Jonathan's hand. When he stopped drinking, he heard someone thundering up behind him. It was Ardeth Bay, who had just mounted his horse again. This caused Beni to spit out the Glenlivet liquid right into Jonathan's face and ran away. The four diggers saw him and ran away in fear.

Jonathan runs desperatly for his life when Ardeth Bay was chasing him on his horse and called out suddenly. "O'CONNELL!"

Before Ardeth Bay was about to strike Jonathan, Rick jumps and knocks Ardeth off his horse once again. Ardeth took his sword, and struck Rick's gun off his hands. Disarmed, Rick dives and rolls to a campfire, and suddenly comes up with a stick of dynamite in his hand. He shoves the fuse into the fire and ignites it in front of Ardeth Bay, towering above him. The two men lock eyes while the fuse continues to burn down.

"Enough!" Ardeth yelled to his warriors and then in Arabic. "We will shed no more blood, but you must leave. Leave this place or die." he turns away and mounts back on his horse again. "You have one day!"

Ardeth Ray gallops off with the remaining Medjai Riders, and vanish into the night. Rick, Stefan, Damon, Lexi, Jonathan, Henderson, Daniels, Burns, Allen, Beni, and the rest of the diggers watch them leave.

"Who the hell were those guys?" Damon asked.

"I don't know, but whoever they were, they didn't seem to friendly to me." Stefan replied.

Rick then turns to the burning fuse, and blows it out. He turns around, and finds Evelyn staggering up, and looked very shaken. He gently takes her and holds her close.

"Are you alright?" Rick asked her with genuine concern.

Evelyn looks up into his strong eyes. It's the first time he's shown genuine concern for her, and liked it. He's also holding her a little too close, but she kinda liked it also.

"Yes, I'm fine." Evelyn replied softly while shaken from all this.

"You sure?" Rick asked again.

"Thank you." Evelyn smiled a bit.

Beni crawls out from under some pillars as Henderson, Burns, and Daniels look around.

"See! That proves it. Old Seti's fortune's gotta be under this sand." Burns stated about the treasure that was left in the ruined city. "

"For them to protect it like this, you just know there's treasure down there." Henderson said, agreeing to his friend's point.

Lexi looks up into the surrounding ridges, unsatisfied and said. "These men were desert people. They value water, not gold.

Burns walks over to her and said. "You know, maybe just at night, we could uh... combine forces."

"Would I ever?" Lexi grinned.

Evelyn looks at O'Connell, suddenly very worried. "Where's Jonathan?"

* * *

During the long night, Jonathan had been fast asleep while O'Connell and Evelyn were laughing, both half-in-the-bag themselves, and the bottle of Glenlivet was almost gone. O'Connell offers the bottle to Evelyn, but she waves it away, slurring badly to herself. Then, Rick decided to teach her the skills of fighting against superior foes.

"Hey, tough stuff, try a right hook." Rick taught her the moves on how to fight. "Ball up your fist and put it... put it up like that. Hit it right here.

"Okay." Evelyn nodded drunkly. "Mean it!"

She tries to punch him with her locked fist, but trips until Rick grabs her as she laughs again from all the drinking she had. Rick drags her back to the campfire and sits with her.

"Okay, its time for another drink." Rick decided.

"Unlike my brother, sir, I know when to say no." Evelyn said drunkly as she grabbed the bottle of Glenlivet and took a big gulp of it.

"Uh-uh, and unlike your brother, miss, you I just don't get." Rick said with a half-smile. "You're a whole new brew."

"I know." Evelyn nodded with a drunken laughter. "You're wondering, what's a place like me doing in a girl like this?

"Yeah, something like that." Rick pretended to agree.

"Egypt is in my blood." Evelyn explained about her life. "You see my... my father was a very, very famous explorer. And he loved Egypt so much, he married my mother, who was an Egyptian and quite an adventurer herself."

"Okay, I get your father, I get your mother and uh..." Rick paused for a moment and pointed at Jonathan. "I get him, but..." He stared at her for a bit and asked her one stupid question. "What are you doing here?"

Still drunk from all drinking, Evelyn was heavily insulted and waves her arms as she continued to speak stagger to her feet. "Look, I may not be an explorer or an adventurer, or a treasure seeker, or a gunfighter, Mister O'Connell, but I am proud of what I am."

"And what is that?" Rick asked, sounding embarrassed by this.

Evelyn plops back down beside him, really drunk, but gives him a huge grin and proudly lifts her head high until she replies her exact answer. "I... am a librarian!" She leans in, very close to his face, looks him in the eyes. "And I am going to kiss you, Mister O'Connell."

"No you're not." Rick declined.

"I'm not?" Evelyn asked.

"Not unless you call me Rick." Rick said.

"Why would I say that?" Evelyn asked him.

"Because that's my name." Rick corrected.

Evelyn gives him a goofy smile and slowly forward to kiss him. That was when her eyes slowly close, and then she passes out, slumping into his arms. O'Connell just looks down at her, and doesn't say anything.


	8. The Black Book

During the mid-morning, Allen, Henderson, Burns, Daniels, Beni, and six fear-filled, sweaty-faced diggers reach into the  
secret compartment. As Allen was speaking directly to the diggers in arabic, The Diggers slowly pull out an ancient ornate chest, and gently set it down on the sandy floor. Beni looks around, and then watches as Burns blows off the dust from the very top of the chest while Allen translates the ancient hieratics.

"There is a curse upon this chest." Allen said, reading the hieratics.

"Curse my ass." Daniels spat, not wanting to believe in these ancient mythological tales.

"Yeah, who cares." Henderson complained.

"Have a care Mr Henderson." Allen responded sharply. "In these hallowed grounds, that which was set forth in ancient times, is as strong today, as it was then."

"Yeah, we understand." Henderson said. "What's it say?

Allen carefully reads the inscription. "Death will come on swift wings to whomever opens this chest."

As he said those words, a gust of wind suddenly blows through the chamber. Toches began to flicker, and six diggers immediately turn tail and run off screaming. The Americans look at each other, believing it was just a trick to scare everyone.

"We should not be here." Beni said nervously, looking around the chamber in fear. "This is not good."

"It says, there is one, the undead, who if brought back to life, is bound by sacred law to consummate this curse." Allen explained about the chest to the three Americans.

"Yeah, well, let's just make sure we don't bring anybody back from the dead then, huh?" Daniels said.

"He will kill all who open this chest, and assimilate their organs and fluids." Allen went on. "And in so doing he will no longer be the undead, but a plague upon this earth."

"Well, we didn't come all this way for nothing." Henderson sighed.

"That's right." Daniels said.

Beni backs away in the slight of fear and he began to realize that the curse was real.

"The Curse." Beni said frightfully and began to panic. "It's the curse. It's the curse!" He turns and bolts from the chamber as he shouts. "Beware of the curse! Beware!"

"Stupid superstitious bastard." Daniels spat, seeing how crazy Beni went.

Immediately, Burns and Henderson start to pry at the lid of the wooden chest, and as they did, smoke blew out from inside the chest, and Allen and the Americans were coughing.

* * *

Back at the unknown chamber, Damon and Stefan grab the wooden coffin and place it on the wall.

"Right there?" Stefan heaved. "That'll do."

"Oh my god, I've dreamed about this ever since I was a little girl." Evelyn said excitedly.

"You dream about dead guys?" Damon asked with a smirk on his face.

Evelyn just gives him a look, then starts brushing dirt and cobwebs off the top of the coffin until she freezes.

"What's wrong?" Lexi asked, concerned.

"Look, all the sacred spells have been chiseled off." Evelyn explained about the coffin. "This man must have been condemned not only in this life, but in the next."

"So these ancient hieratics and hieroglyphs that protect the deceased on his journey into the afterlife?" Stefan asked. "How come they've been removed."

"Maybe this man was cursed... or doomed." Damon assumed.

Rick and Jonathan were too excited to care.

"Tough break."

"Yes, I'm all tears, now let's see who's inside, shall we?" Jonathan suggested.

"Alright Damon, let it rip." Stefan said.

"Right." Damon replied quietly as he inserts the key/box into the coffin's lock and turns it quickly.

The lid cracks open with a hiss. They all react to the foul stench. Then Stefan grabs the lid, but it's stuck. With the might of his vampire strength, he and Damon pulls the lid open as it starts to give way, and then it suddenly pops open, revealing an open and most hideous infested, rotten corpse jumps forward to reveal himself.

"AAAAHHHH!" Evelyn and Jonathan screamed together as they jump back, scared to death.

Without letting the three humans see, Stefan, Damon, and Lexi reveal their vampire fangs and got ready to protect and fight incase if the corpse attacked, but it didn't.

"Relax guys, its dead." Lexi reassured them.

Rick, Damon, Lexi, Evelyn, Stefan, and Jonathan slowly creep forward and carefully look back inside Imhotep's coffin, a little creeped out.

"Oh my god, I hate it when these things do that." Evelyn said, not sounding thrilled by this.

"Is he supposed to look like that?" Rick asked, seeing the appearance of the mummy.

"No." Evelyn said. "I've never seen a mummy look like this. He's, he's still..."

"Juicy." Damon replied.

"Yes." Evelyn nodded. "He must be more than 3,000 years old, and, well, it looks as he is still... decomposing."

"Hey, look at this." O'Connell points at the inside of the coffin lid, where there are fingernail scratches and dried blood all over the inside.

"Blood has been dried up for a long time." Stefan said, counting the years.

"What is it?" Lexi asked.

"My god, these marks were made with... finger nails." Evelyn said and turns to face the corpse. "This man was buried alive."

"Talk about been harsh for someone been buried alive here." Damon spat.

"He must've suffered in there and died from starvation." Lexi stated.

"And look, he left a message... in blood." Evelyn added, pointing at a group of hieratics that were written in blood.

"What does it say?" Rick asked.

"It says: 'Death is only the beginning'." Evelyn read the hieratics.

Jonathan began to shiver and had a feeling that this rotted corpse was cursed and believed it would just awake itself and attack.

O'Connell looks around and asked anyone. "Where's my gun?"

"What are you going to do? Shoot him?" Lexi scoffed.

"Well if he decides to wake up, then yes." Rick replied.

* * *

Back at the Anubis' chamber, the fog was settling, and the three Americans have their guns aimed at the chest while Allen slowly steps up, reaches inside, and lifts out a heavy burlap bag. Everyone's eyes widen in excitement as he sticks his hand into the bag and slowly pulls out the black book.

"Oh, my god." Allen breathed in shock. "It does exist."

"What?" Burns asked.

"I have heard of this book, but I never truly believed it existed." Allen said. "Its the Book of the Dead."

"A book? Who cares about a book? Where the hell's the treasure?" Daniels demanded, not even caring about it.

Allen slowly stands up with the book in his arms and said. "This, gentlemen. This is... treasure."

"Well I wouldn't trade ya for a brass spittoon." Henderson spat.

"Yeah! It's supposed to be made outta pure gold!" Daniels exclaimed.

That was when Henderson accidentally kicks the chest, causing it to break open, and unfolding to reveal a lower compartment. Inside, are five jewel encrusted canopic jars, but the one in the middle was shattered and without jewels.

"Look at that." Burns smiled in excited.

"There's you treasure, gentlemen." Allen said.

"Well now we're on to something." Daniels grinned happily.


	9. The Bringer of Death

The two camps have now joined together. O'Connell, Damon, Stefan, Lexi, and Beni were busy roasting chunks of chicken meat over a fire. Jonathan wrinkles his nose, disgusted by the smell of the chick.

"What is this stuff?" Jonathan asked in disgust. "It smells like someone has sprang a trap for rats."

"Rat gizzards." Damon replied. "They smell bad and taste worse."

"At least that's the best dinner that has to offer." Lexi smiled.

That was when the three gloating Americans join them in the campfire and had been fondling with their jeweled jars that they found from the chest that they opened.

"Say O'Connell, whadaya think these... honey's'll fetch back home?" Henderson teased.

"We hear you gentlemen found yerselves a nice gooey mummy." Burns laughed. "Congratulations."

"Ya know if ya dry him out, you can sell him for firewood." Daniels joked.

As the three Americans were laughing hysterically, Evelyn arrives at the campfire, only for Beni taking her seat in between Jonathan and Rick.

"Your in her seat." Rick said to Beni, but saw that he wasn't moving when he didn't realize he was talking to him. This caused him to raise his voice. "Now!"

Beni nervously sits up and sat somewhere else in the campfire just as Evelyn sits herself down and drops a pile of big dusty bug skeletons onto the ground.

"Wow, talk about bugs, and speaking of which... what are they I wonder?" Damon asked, seeing the bugs.

"Scarabs, flesh eaters, I found them inside our friend's coffin." Evelyn explained. "They can stay alive for years living off the flesh of a corpse, or in this case. Unfortunately for our friend, he was still alive when they started eating him."

"Are you saying somebody threw these things in with our guy, and they slowly ate him alive?" Damon asked, sounding quite confused with weird look on his face.

"Very slowly." Evelyn answered with a grin on her face.

"Well, he certainly was not a popular fellow when they planted him." Jonathan said.

"Must of got a little too frisky with the Pharaoh's daughter." Damon smirked.

"Very funny, Damon." Stefan grinned in sarcasm, pretending to sound thrilled by the joke. "Keep it coming."

"Well, according to my readings, our friend suffered the Hom-Dai, the worst of all ancient Egyptian curses, one reserved for only the most evil blasphemers." Evelyn explained about one of Egypt's curses. "In all of my research, I've never heard of this curse having actually been performed."

"That bad, huh?" Rick said.

"Yes, well they... they never used it because they feared it so." Evelyn went on with her explanation. "It's written, that if a victim of the Hom-dai should ever arise, he would bring with him the ten plagues of Egypt."

"The ten plagues?" Lexi asked, sounding surprised. "You mean all ten plagues?"

"Like what Moses did to that Pharaoh guy?" Damon added.

"That's one way of putting it." Evelyn nodded.

Jonathan began to ponder. "Let's see, there are frogs, flies, locusts..."

"Don't forget hail and fire." Stefan said.

"The sun turning black." Lexi added as well.

"Water turning to blood." Damon grinned.

"And my personal favorite: people covered in boils and sores." Jonathan said as well.

All the men share nervous looks, really spooked.

Evelyn just laughs at them, then pulls a meat stick out of the fire and asked. "Fried meat anyone?"

* * *

Having just freshened up for bed, Evelyn exits the temple and steps past a few dozen Diggers who were all fast asleep from their hard day's work. That was when she spots Allen Chamberlain, who was sleeping peacefully with his jeweled canopic jar snug under one arm and the Book of the Dead laying loose under the other. Evelyn stares at the Book, nervously biting her lip, then she sneaks over, carefully steals it, and quickly tip-toes away.

As Evelyn placed the book down on a square trunk, Damon noticed what she was doing while pretending to be asleep.

"That's called stealing, you know." Damon warned her.

"According to you and my brother, it's called borrowing." Evelyn replied softly as she quietly took the key out of her brother's pocket while he was fast asleep.

"I thought you told us that the Book of Amun-Ra was made out of pure gold." Damon stated.

"It is made out of gold, Mr. Salvatore." Evelyn whispered, staring at the key in awe and hoped it would unlock the book. "This isn't the Book of Amun-Ra. This is something else."

"Well, what is it?" Stefan asked, standing behind her. "Cause if that Egyptologist fellow wakes up and finds that the book is gone, you might get yourself into trouble."

"Actually, I think this may be the Book of the Dead." Evelyn responded quietly as she pressed the switch to unlock the key.

"The Book of the Dead?" Damon asked, sounding quite thrilled by this. "Well, maybe tomorrow we can look harder in finding that golden book."

"That's preciously the plan." Evelyn breathed in awe as she finally managed to use the key to unlock the book.

"Evelyn, are sure you want to be playing around with this book?" Stefan asked, not thinking it would be wise. "Cause I think something is not right."

"Don't worry, it's just a book, no harm ever came from a book." Evelyn assured him as she opens the cover, but when she did, the fire flickered from a gust of wind.

"Okay, that was weird." Damon said. "That happens lot around here."

"Evy, please, I think be best you should return the book." Stefan pleaded, but it was too late.

"Amun Ra. Amun Dei" Evelyn read the book in egyptian. "It speaks of the night and of the day."

As Evelyn continues to read the book in ancient egyptian, her voice echoed in the chamber where the group found the Mummy that was buried alive a long time ago. Over the lip of the coffin, the Mummy still remained dormant and still, but as the voice continued to echo around his chamber, the Mummy suddenly awoke and let out a huge roar over the cavern.

Hearing the roar, Allen sits bolt upright in a gasp. Quickly looking around in a panic, he sees Evelyn reading the book and gets up and runs for her.

"NOOOO! YOU MUST NOT READ FROM THE BOOK!" Allen shouted in fear.

He skids to a stop as a strange when he heard the sound of piercing whine that was coming from out in the desert. Damon, Stefan, Rick, Jonathan, Lexi, Henderson, Daniels, Burns, Beni, and the diggers all leap to their feet and run out of their tents to find out where the sound was coming from. As the sound was getting louder and closer, the whole company saw from out of the darkness a huge wall of locusts that began to swirl into the camp and prepares to envelop everyone.

"RUN!" Rick yelled as he grabs Evelyn, and with Jonathan at their side. Lexi, Stefan, and Damon run along after them, and the six race race for the crevice, trying to fend off the horrid vermin as they go.

Beni, Henderson, Daniels, Burns, and five diggers run inside the temple while the rest of the diggers were surrounded by all swarm of locusts that were flying around them.

Allen remained behind and was covered in locusts. He stares at the Book of the Dead, looking very haunted on what had happended. "What have we done?"

* * *

Inside the Labyrinth Corridor, Rick, Damon, Stefan, Jonathan, and Lexi continued to race down the labyrinth, slapping at themselves and picking locusts out of their hair.

"Did you see that!? Grasshoppers!" Jonathan cried in a panic. "Millions of grasshoppers!

"That's one of the plagues, right?" Lexi asked, taking out a few grasshoppers out of her hair and crushing them with her bare hands while running. "The grasshopper plague?"

"This is not a plague." Evelyn answered nervously. "It's generational."

"Oh, if its generational, then where did they come from exactly?" Damon asked her. "Why don't use your wits to tell us?"

"Every so many years the locusts of Egypt have a population explosion and they all take flight." Evelyn explained, and as she steps forward, she suddenly squishes something very soft.

Rick and Damon lower their torches, and saw that the entire floor was filled with tiny frogs.

"Okay,... and what about the frogs?" Rick asked. "Where did they come from?"

* * *

Somewhere in the Labyrinth Passageway, Henderson, Daniels, Burns, Beni and the Diggers race into a passageway.

"Where the hell did they come from?" Henderson shouted as he ran with his torch locked in his hand.

"I ain't waiting around to find out." Daniels replied.

That was when Burns accidently tripped and fell onto the ground, but as he did, his glasses fell off.

"My glasses. My glasses!" Burns called to his friends, but Daniels and Henderson both ran with the diggers.

"Leave me!" Beni exclaimed as he been swatting a few locusts around him and ran towards Burns who was still searching for his glasses. "Leave me!"

"Hey! Hey!" Burns called to him. "Can you you help me find my gl..."

Before he was this close in reaching his glasses, Beni accidently stepped on them, and didn't even bother in helping Burns up. Instead, he continued to run.

"Wait for me!" Beni cried in a panic.

Burns picks up his broken glasses and saw useless it was. Despite been half-blind, Burns had to waste money to buy a new pair. He continued to stagger down the passageway, squinting, with his hands out in front of him, groping, trying not to bump into anything.

That was when he heard something. It was a loud thud.

"Who's there?" Burns called out and raised his pistol in defense. "Who's there?"

Hearing the growling sound, Burns continued to hold to his pistol and shoot the unknown figure. Then ten feet in front of him, a dark, blurry figure steps out.

"Daniels... is that you?" Burns whispered, hoping it was Daniels, who he thought found him.

Burns half-blindly staggers forward, but saw that the Figure didn't even move.

"Henderson?" Burns called to him quietly, but that was when he accidently trips and stumbles forward, towards the Figure. His hands reach out and sink into a putrid chest cavity. "Aaaah!" He jumped like a scalded cat, pulls his hands out, and looks at them, seeing that they were covered in flesh rot. As he screams in fear of what he saw, the skeletal wrapped hand of the figure clamps over his mouth.

* * *

Back at the Labyrinth Corridor, Evelyn, Rick, Lexi, Jonathan, Stefan, and Damon walked forward and kept their eyes open for anything. That was when Lexi started to hear a scream far away and knew that it was Burns.

"Burns." Lexi whispered. "He's in trouble."

Before anyone could react, the ground started to shake, and then suddenly, right in front of them, hundreds of chittering scarab beetles boil up out of the sand and start scurrying towards them.

"Scarabs!" Evelyn yelled in shock.

"Run, Evy!" Jonathan screamed.

"Go, go, go!" Damon shouted.

Evelyn, Rick, Lexi, Jonathan, Stefan, and Damon all begin to run and try to avoid the scarabs that were gaining up on them. Rick fired his shotgun at them, but had no effect. Eventully, the six companions run into a staircase of the labyrinth. They race up the staircase, just ahead of the mass of scurrying, chittering scarabs. Rick, Damon, and Stefan leap out onto a pedestal. Jonathan and Lexi jumps on another while Evelyn jumps up into a grotto on the other side of the narrow stairway.

The horrible herd of vicious scarabs scurry between them, their ear-piercing chitters sending shivers up Evelyn's spine. As she leans back, the wall began to move and Evelyn falls backwards through the opening. Once the scarabs had vanished up the staircase, Rick, Damon, Stefan, Lexi, and Jonathan look across the way and saw tat Evelyn was gone.

"Where's Evelyn?" Damon asked, looking around.

"Where did she run off to?" Stefan asked as well, confused.

"Evelyn!" Rick called out to her.

"Evy!" Jonathan called as well.

* * *

Inside the scarab chamber, Evelyn sits up, shakes the sand out of her hair, and fearfully looks around. The whole chamber was dark while she got up and feels her way along the dark walls. That was when she heard a moaning noise that was closer to her. As she rounds a corner, a shaft of moonlight filtered in through a crack in the ceiling and that was when she spotted Burns in the middle of the room.

Evelyn walks towards him and felt relieved it was him. "Oh, Mr. Burns. Thank goodness. I was just starting to get scared. I've lost everyone."

Just as she reaches him, he turns around and reveals that both of his eyes and tongue were missing. As he stares at her with his vacant sockets, but couldn't see, Evelyn screamed n horror and backs away, hyperventilating.

"My eyes?" Burns cried. "My eyes?"

Trying to move away in fear, she turns around, and at the sight of fear, the Mummy, which Evy awoke when she read the Book of the Dead that brought him back to life, emerged from the darkness and let out a deep growl when he looks at her. with two fresh eyeballs that he took from Burns and placed them in his sockets.

"AAAAAAHHHHHH!" Evelyn screamed in terror and slowly backed away into a wall. With nowhere to run, she watched fearfully as the Mummy continued to growl and slowly walks up to her and examines her.

"Please help me." Evelyn whimpered in fear, speaking directly to Burns, who fell onto the ground and crawled backwards.

"My tongue." Burns gurgled and moaned in agony. "He took my tongue."

"Please don't leave me." Evelyn begged to him.

The Mummy turns around to look at Burns for a moment, and then turns back to face Evelyn. Continuing to look at her, he spoke out his first word to her. "Anck-su-namun?"

* * *

Back at the staircase labyrinth, Damon, Rick, Lexi, Stefan, and Jonathan were right at the spot where Evelyn vanished and tried to figure out to open the wall.

"Rats!" Damon growled and tried to get it open. "Why won't this wall not open?"

"Must be a trap door around here or something." Lexi said, examining the wall.

That was when they heard screaming and all turn to see Henderson, Daniels and a digger coming out running down the stairs.

"RUN, YOU SONS-A-BITCHES!" Henderson yelled directly at them as he ran as a fast as he could. "RUN!"

"Go!" Stefan shouted immediately.

Lexi, Stefan, Damon, Rick, and Jonathan join them as they hear the herd of chittering scarabs coming their way. That was when the digger suddenly trips and falls, and tried to get himself to run. Rick slows down, and was about to go back and help him, but it was too late. The digger screams in horror as the herd of scarabs run over him, eating straight through him, and leaving behind the Digger's half eaten skeleton.

* * *

Back at the chamber, Imhotep steps forward, with the sand around him that seems to magnatize, swirling, and dancing around his flaking skeletal legs. Evelyn starts backing away slowly, can't even standing the horror by just staring at the walking corpse.

"Kadeesh pharos Anck-su-namun." _(Come with me my princess Anck-su-namun.)_ The Mummy spoke to her egyptian and offers his hand.

Before the Mummy had the oppurnity to take her with him, Rick and Damon come flying around the corner and run straight right up to her.

"There you are." Damon said and joined her.

"What have you been doing this whole time? Playing hide-in-seek?" Rick asked loudly. "Come on, let's get out of here."

Rick and Damon see the look in her eyes and both turn around to face the sight of the Mummy.

"WHOA!" O'Connell gasped and jumped back in fright.

"You gotta be freaking kidding me." Damon murmured when he stared at the Mummy.

Damon, Rick, and Evelyn start backing away down the wall, but the Mummy glides sideways with them, like a tiger cornering his prey while Burns starts to crawl away, whimpering as he goes.

"EVY!" Jonathan called.

The Mummy heard his voice turned to face him, Lexi, Stefan, Daniels, and Henderson. This caused Jonathan to back away in fear when he saw the Mummy with his own eyes. Then, the Mummy turns back to face Damonsuddenly stops and unhinges his skeletal jaw, his skinless mouth stretches to an inhuman size, and he lets out a horrific, primordial roar.

Evelyn gasped in fright and Damon holds on to her. Rick, however, shudders, but feeling embarrassed by his fear, he opens his own mouth and roars right back at him and then blasts him with his shotgun. Through the smoke and flammage, the Mummy was blown off his feet and landing on the ground.

"Move!" Rick shouted to the others and ran with Evy and Damon.

"Come on!" Damon shouted.

"Yeah, right." Jonathan whimpered in fear as he ran and cried. "Did yo usee that?"

"It was walking!" Daniels cried in a panic. "It was walking!"

* * *

Outiside the ruins, Lexi, Evelyn, Jonathan, Damon, Stefan, RIck, Daniels, and Henderson run out and suddenly come face-to-face with armed group of Medjai warrior, who aim their rifles directly at them. Allen, who still has book locked behind him, was already on his knees and looked quite frightened.

Ardeth Ray steps forward and didn't look quite happy on what had just happened tonight. "I told you to leave or die. You refused, and now you may have killed us all. For you have unleashed the creature that we have feared for more than three thousand years."

"Relax, I got him." Rick assured him.

"No mortal weapon can kill this creature." Ardeth said. "He is not of this world."

"Are we talkin, about the same creature?" Damon asked. "The walking corpse? Really big mouth? Really bad breath?"

That was when two Medjai warriors drag Burns up, who was moaning in great pain with his vacant sockets. Daniels and Henderson were especially horrified what had just happened to their friend.

"You bastards." Daniels growled at them quietly.

"What did you do to him?" Henderson demanded angrily.

ARDETH RAY

"We saved him." Ardeth said to him. "Saved him before the creature could finish his work." He turns to the others. "Now leave, all of you, quickly, before he finishes you all."

"You're not going to kill us?" Jonathan asked nervously.

"No, but we must hunt him down, and try and find a way to kill him, before he consumes the world." Ardeth explained on what the Mummy plans to do. "Allah be with us."

Ardeth Ray and the Medjai start heading down into the crevice.

"We already told you, already, he already got him." Stefan said to the Medjai leader.

Ardeth Ray stops and looks back, with a deadly serious look on his face. "Know this, this creature is bringer of death. He will be coming for you. He must consummate the curse. And until he does, he will never eat, he will never sleep, and he will never stop."

* * *

Inside the Anubis chamber, Beni slowly backs up around Anubis, eyes wide, and holding his gun up in defense. He looks around and began to hear the sound of footsteps and growling. This caused Beni to gasp in fright and held his gun in front and await the figure approaching. However, he did not realize that the Mummy was behind him.

Beni turns around and comes directly to face-to-face with the Mummy, causing him to shriek. "Aaah!"

The Mummy didn't roar or killed him. He just growled and stared at him, causing a frightened Beni to back away. Beni takes out a tiny religious christian crucifix

"Please, oh good lord, protect and watch over me as a shepherd watches over his flock." Beni spoke to the almighty lord.

It has no effect on the Mummy, as he continues to walk forward to him. Beni quickly grabs the other symbols and icons, holding them out towards the Mummy, one after the other, trying to slow his progress. The ones he used were an Islamic Sword and Crescent Moon necklace, a Hindu Brahma medallion, and a small Buddhist Bodhisattva statue while blessing himself in Arabic, Hindi, Chinese and Latin. Nothing seems to work, and the Mummy's skeletal hand reaches for Beni's throat. Tears run down Beni's cheeks he's so freaked when he held up the Hebrew star blesses himself in hebrew.

The Mummy stops in his tracks when he heard the words that Beni said. His hand lowers, and he stares at Beni quizzically with his grotesque new eyeballs. "The language of the slaves." He takes a step back and went on. "I may have use for you." Then he reaches into his tattered robe, and holds out his fetid hand, filled with shiny gold and jewels. "And the rewards... will be great."

Beni's eyes widen in shock and surprise when he saw the gold in the Mummy's skeletal hand, and felt relieved that his life was spared by a 3,000 year old Mummy and responded nervously. "Oh, my prince."

Imhotep raises his other hand, holding a broken canopic jar and asked. "Where are the other sacred jars?"


End file.
